AL Notes: Gomes, Pearce, Despaigne, Judge, Sale, Medlen

The Indians expect to welcome back catcher Yan Gomes on Friday, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer reports on Twitter. Gomes had been sidelined with a separated shoulder that was considered a threat to end his campaign, but it seems he’ll have a chance to come back online in advance of a likely postseason berth. That’s welcome news for Cleveland, which has struggled to find production from the catching position. Of course, Gomes himself has scuffled to a .165/.198/.313 batting line, but the club can at least hope he’ll return to providing quality glovework while hopefully swinging out of his malaise.

Here’s more from the American League:

Orioles utility slugger Steve Pearce is set to visit Dr. David Altchek tomorrow for his arm injury, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports. Pearce’s elbow/forearm issues have failed to abate, leaving the club unsure of his status as the postseason push intensifies. The 33-year-old has managed only 70 trips to the plate since he was picked up at the trade deadline, with his production trailing off with the injury.

Meanwhile, the Orioles have placed righty Odrisamer Despaigne on waivers, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitterlinks). Given that Despaigne was designated on the fifth, Kubatko suggests that the O’s were trying to work out a deal before settling for the wire. The 29-year-old carries a 5.60 ERA over his 27 1/3 innings on the year, with 5.6 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9, so he doesn’t figure to hold much appeal at present.

The Yankees have ordered an MRI for outfielder Aaron Judge after he came down with an oblique injury, Jack Curry of YES Network reports (Twitterlinks). It remains to be seen whether the 24-year-old will be able to make it back to finish out his late-season promotion. He has struggled thus far in the majors, with 41 strikeouts in 93 plate appearances, and New York will surely hope to get him as much work as possible to assess his readiness to contribute in 2017.

White Sox ace Chris Sale has already seen his name tossed around quite a bit in trade talks, and he figures to be an intriguing trade candidate this winter, but he tells Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago that he hopes to stay in Chicago. “I don’t worry about that stuff,” Sale said. “That will shake out on its own. I wear this uniform with a lot of pride. I hope I can continue to do that.” Of course, the South Siders will not part with the star southpaw lightly, if at all. The 27-year-old has turned in another strong campaign, putting up a 3.03 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 over 201 2/3 innings.

Righty Kris Medlen hopes to return to the Royals in 2017, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports on Twitter. The former standout hurler struggled badly in limited action this year, and hasn’t pitched since May owing to shoulder issues. That makes it an easy decision for the team to pay him a $1MM buyout rather than picking up his $10MM option, but something else could be worked out if Kansas City sees cause for optimism. “I feel like I’m not done yet with this team,” said Medlen. “I feel like I owe them something.”

It’s not ironic at all. He made it clear before Spring Training he didn’t want to wear the old jerseys and then 2 other times during the season. He even asked to have his start moved up or pushed back a day so he wouldn’t have to wear it. The front office gave him lip service, but essentially ignored his requests every time, so he made a point. Being ignored and having your opinion mean nothing to the front office doesn’t mean he doesn’t have pride.

Lol that’s not how professional sports work. He made a big deal about a uniform because it messed with his pitching. God forbid a professional pitcher (one of the best in the league) wants to be at his best when he’s on the mound. Not to mention that starters get to pick which uniforms the team wears before their start, and he tried to avoid this multiple times.

I’m not saying he handled it correctly by any means, but he had a valid reason to be upset.

That being said, 9 million is nowhere near enough for him to “shut his mouth and play.” He’s being significantly underpaid for his services. Yes, I know how messed up that sounds talking about someone making that much money, but it’s a fact. They need to pay him SIGNIFICANTLY more if they want him to “shut up and play.”

So…you’re saying…..when you are young in the league, you should shut up and play. Then when you are a bargain, you can whine about uniforms……until you sign a mega deal and are overpaid – at which time you should shut up and play again. Thanks for the lesson on how “professional sports works”.

Where are the other examples of how ” professional sports work” where athletes make silly demands without consequences?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Braves made Medlen a non-roster invitee to spring training if no other team gives him a shot. Of course it would go without saying that Medlen would have to show some sort of signs of positive effectiveness and health before they would give him a big league contract.

They should be tossing Robin out of the Sox clubhouse before Sale or Quintana go anywhere. A good manager makes this team tremendously better, and I think could help this team next season to at least keep everything together as is (with a new catcher and maybe CF) and make a run through the AS break. If the team is still underachieving by then? Then blow it up, but I do not see how getting rid of Sale or Quintana makes you immediately better (which is apparently what the Sox org wants). Finally trading Sale or Quintana when you have such massive issues in your scouting and development depts means that the Sox could miss on a trade of Sale or Quintana. They need to fix that office completely before thinking about trading those guys.